Improvement in machines for forming hat-bodies



UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIGE JOHN GILL, OF ORANGE, JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT 1N 'MACHINES FoR FoRMlNG HAT-Boones.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 164,544, dated J une 15,1875; application filed July 6, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN GILL, of Orange, in the county of Essex andState of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Machines for Forming Hat- Bodies, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates more especially to the machine which is thesubject of Letters Patent granted to Ira Gill, January 13, 1857, and inwhich the hat-body is formed within a chamber of inverted conical form,surrounding the pervious cone or former. I provide inlet airopenings orperforations around the lower part of this chamber for the inux of airfree from fur, such air serving to thin the brim of the hat-body, andconcentrate the fur upon the middle or upper portions of the height ofthe cone, and also operating to prevent fur from lodging in the lower`part of the chamber; and

the first part of my invention consists in the construction of suchlower part ofthe chamber, in which the said openings or perforations areprovided, of larger internal diameter than the inverted conical portionimmediately above, thereby forming a cavity wherein/the jets of airentering through the said openings or perforations are broken up anddiffused, and a better distribution of the non-fur-bearing air aroundthe lower part of the cone or former is obtained. The inventionconsists, secondly, in a combination, with the hat-forming chamber andcut-od board over which the furis supplied to the chamber, of a slidefor varying the depth of air-opening under the cut-ofi` board, and soregulating the quantity of the non-fur-bearing current admitted to theupper part of the chamber, said air operating to cause the fur-bearingcurrent from the picker to pass farther over and lower down' on thecone, and thereby to reduce the thickness of the tip.

In the drawing, Figure 1 represents a longitudinal sectional elevationof a machine for forming hat-bodies, having my invention applied; andFig. 2, a plan of the same.

A is the endless traveling feeding-apron, on which the fur is carried tothe chamber surrounding the pervious cone or former by first passing itthrough feed-rollers B B, from thence to the licker-in cylinder C, thatgives or passes it to a larger cylinder, D, which is both a picker anddisintegrator; also a blower, by reason of its construction and rapidmotion. This combined picker and blower D throws the fur and directs thecurrent containing the latter over onto the cut-off board E, which isarranged within the upper part of the chamber G on the feeding side ofthe machine. The interior of this chamber G is constructed to form aninverted conical surface, b, which is made to terminate below at a pointor a level, as at @,whichis above the level of the bottom of thepervious cone or former H, with openings cl d beneath such terminationfor the inilux air, which is free of fur. Fig. 1 shows this perforatedlower lpar-t of the chamber O to be of larger diameter than the lowerpart of the conical surface above.

The conical interior surface b of the chamber may be constructed so thatan imaginary line forming a downward continuation of its axial profilemight or might not strike the cone H; but it is preferable that itshould be so constructed, as shown in Fig. 1, that such imaginary lineshould not strike the cone, but should pass entirely outside of the baseor lower edge thereof, as then any dags or heavy particles of fur wouldnot be sufficiently under the influence of the exhaust-current to beliable to be thrown upon the cone, but would be more likely to falloutside of the latter.

The influx of air through the openings d operates to thin the brim ofthe hat, and to prevent any fur from lodging in the lower part of thechamber G, as it is more or less liable to do when there is a dead spacearound the interior lower part of the chamber. Such influx of airconcentrates the fur upon the middle and upper portions of the bight ofthe cone, and its deposit upon the upper part of the cone, as also atthe base, may be graduated by proper accessories within the cone.

I is the opening under the cut-oft board, by which a current of air,free from fur, is admitted to the upper part of the chamber G, and whichserves to cause the fur-bearin g cnrrent to pass farther over and lowerdown on the cone H, and so reduce the thickness of the tip. To this end,or to make such general thinning arrangement on the upper part of thecone eiectual, I provide said opening I with:

a slide, J, which may be adjusted to regulate the quantity of airadmitted by said opening, according to the strengthof the down draft, oras other circumstances may require. K is a fan, by which the suction iscreated within the cone or former H, and L the shaft by which said coneis rotated.

I claim- 1. The perforated lower portion of the chamber G, of largerdiameter than the lower part

